Tehachapi News

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As my last column noted, we have a peculiar situation up here on our mountain. We have a small city of only four square miles with around 7,000 people surrounded by 400 square miles of unincorporated areas and another 30,000 or so county residents.

A friend who resides in the county was upset with me for writing that I am only the Mayor of the City of Tehachapi — not the community as a whole. 

“We may not live in town,” she said, “but Tehachapi is the only city we have, and we consider it our city, too.” 

She went on to remind me how much the people in Bear Valley Springs, Stallion Springs, Golden Hills, Sand Canyon, Alpine and the rest of the unincorporated areas contribute to the social and cultural life of the City of Tehachapi.

In an important way, she's right, which only serves to reinforce the disconnect between the political and geographical truth and the social, cultural and emotional reality of our community. Even though only the city residents can actually vote for the city council, we all on this mountain consider ourselves residents of Tehachapi, and therefore the mayor and city council, in a sense, do actually belong to everyone.

I think it's more than just our shared zip code. It's our shared history and sense of community, and the fact that there is no other governing body that can be said to represent us all. The county represents all but the city, even though we all share the same supervisor. But the seat of the county government is Bakersfield, which is mentally and geographically distant.

The city is the focal point of our commerce and culture, and as such, everyone up here is a stakeholder in the city. No matter where we live, we all shop in the city, go to movies and plays, go out to dinner, join in the cultural life downtown, and leave sales tax dollars to be reinvested in city services and activities. In exchange, city residents also shop in Old Towne. The city's planning charrette included many people from the county, and city residents will be attending the upcoming county planning meetings. 

In governance, the city performs a balancing act between our primary responsibility to the residents of the City of Tehachapi for essential services and culture, and a leadership role for Greater Tehachapi that includes setting the right tone, and providing, perhaps, a feeling of shared community — a sense of place, if you will.
It's both a challenge and a privilege to be mindful of the interests of both city and surrounding areas at the same time and in the right perspective. I see this as an important aspect of community building.

That said, we still can't fix your road if you live in the county, but we do appreciate and welcome an exchange of ideas as we all work together for the good of our entire community.

— Mayor Deborah Hand